Compost

[jakester]

Hi,

Is it essential to use aquatic compost because I have a compost bin so i thought that maybe i might be able to use the compost from it or if ordinary garden compost would be alright as this would save me a trip to the lfs!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I take it we are talking about using compost when planting pond plants yes? You don't have to use aquatic compost, but i definately wouldn't recommend using normal garden compost as this will be so full of nutrients it will cause really bad algae problems in the pond- also if the compost isn't very well rotted, it would also cause bad water quality problems as well.
Basically most aquatic plants are evolved to survive off very little nutrients, and they can easily be overdosed with nutrients if you are not careful which can lead to all sorts of problems- aquatic compost tends to have very little nutritional value in comparison to normal compost, but this is just what is best for aquatic plants.
You don't have to use aquatic compost though- using a little poor quality soil mixed in with a lot of gravel is also very good, this is what i did when i planted my pond plants last year and they are thriving this way. However the problem with this is that if the soil has had anything like fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides on it, then this can obviously cause a lot of problems with the ponds ecosystem.

 

[jakester]

Thanks so much for your advice Im off to do some planting!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thanks so much for your advice Im off to do some planting!

Cool, glad to help .